Archive for May, 2010

It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it. This year I was a judge at the ChocolateFest in New London with NHToDo magazine and King Arthur Flour. The three of us worked our way through 15 entries and decided on a winner. It was an interesting year – last year many of the entries included raspberry; this year there was a s’mores theme. (The theme wasn’t planned – it just happened.) We had a clear winner, then had to really think about the second and third place. Congratulations to everyone who participated – nice job all around and I’m already looking forward to next year!

Thanks to everyone for supporting the Art & Gallery Guide this year. We had an invitation-only party at the Inn at Pleasant Lake to kick off the launch of both the guide and the membership drive for Center for the Arts. More than 100 folks attended (we lost count) and local artists brought their artwork to display around the inn. It was a room full of talent, and we were pleased to see all the networking taking place. We hope that artists and local organizations were able to exchange ideas and information, and we look forward to planning, supporting and creating a year that focuses on all the talented artists in the area!

Ever heard of fuse beads? Lucy and I took an art class at Artographed in Lyme and got our hands on a fuse bead project. You take these little plastic “O”s, place them on a design (like a heart or a flower), and then use an iron to gently melt the beads into the design. I learned that you really need little, bendable fingers to do this type of art project; Lucy was great at it, I was not so great. But Artographed offers a variety of projects for kids of all ages – we also made felt finger puppets, painted ceramics and made a wooden bead bracelet. If you’re looking for something to do with the kids, Artographed is located next to Stella’s restaurant in downtown Lyme.